LONDON (Reuters) - The International Sugar Organization (ISO) on Tuesday forecast a global sugar surplus of 1.3 million tonnes in 2014/15, down from a 4.0 million tonnes in 2013/14 due in part to rising consumption.
World sugar consumption was projected to rise by 2 percent to 182.4 million tonnes in 2014/15, the ISO said in its latest quarterly report.
World sugar production was predicted to rise 0.6 percent to 183.8 million tonnes.
The stocks/consumption ratio was expected to ease to 42.3 percent in 2014/15 from 43.6 percent in 2013/14.
"The ISO believes that, even with the small forecast surplus, global fundamentals are unlikely to support a rise in market values from current values," the organisation said.
"Any possible price recovery brought by production shocks over the course of 2014/15 might be muted by the huge stocks accumulated since the beginning of the surplus phase in 2010/11."
Between May and July, market attention focused on concerns about the effect of a long spell of dry weather on Brazil's centre-south 2014/15 crop as well as on weaker monsoon rains in India.
"Since mid-July the market has taken a more bearish tone," the ISO said. "Domestic prices in China have continued to fall, auguring for potentially lower imports over the next season."
The ISO added, "Initial beet tests in European producers have turned out to be better than expected, bolstered by good
weather during the growing season; and India's production prospects have improved on the back of more plentiful rainfall."
(Reporting by David Brough; Editing by Jane Baird)
